News

In fall of 2017 we had the privilege to accomodate Hungary's most iconic folk-rock-funk-blues band, the Rackajam, led by György Ferenczi. You can have a short teaser of their performance. They recorded 2 new albums in Nashville, right after their gig at BuSho featuring Gryllus Brothers. We now would like to thank the long-years of unique music experience they gave us. BuSho held presentations not only Europe wide, but around the world as well and further ones yet to come, all the way till spring 2018, of which we will update you. This time round you can have one - which is actually two - as we paid a visit to both Yerevan and Bucharest with Róbert Maly Academy award winner cinematographer.

EFFE is the festival classification program of the European Festivals Association, of which the Hungarian Festivals Association is a cooperative local  partner whose task is to delegate members to the Hungarian Jury, to help the applicants and to perform pre-screening in order to provide the international jury only the most worthy festivals. As we've announced it proudly in an earlier mail, BuSho was awarded the certification this year, and thus our festival is a proud bearer of the EFFE Label 2017-2018. The certifications were awarded at the professional conference of the  Hungarian Festivals Associations held at Százhalombatta on the 28th of November 2017, our festival director, Tamás Gábeli received the certificate from István Márta, the president of the Association. Thanks!

The 13th BUSHO Festival just ended when we fund ourselves in Karlovac, Croatia on the 4 River Film Festival and the preparation stage of the so called Finding Humanity youth program, on which the participants task is to make films about the topic of Human Rights. In the meanwhile we had to start the analysis of our festival as well as making the usual best-of-selection, which was on high demand by all the Hungarian institutes around the globe. Among others we received invitations from Tallin, Chicago and Sydney, so off the Hungarian shorts went to Flickerfest.

This year, Armenian Rolan Bykov Foundation implements a special project "Visegrad-Armenia: "Rolan" International Film Festival as a Platform for Intercultural Dialogue" with the support of International Visegrad Fund and the Foreign Ministry of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. BUSHO is the project partner from Hungary and has recommended a special selection of films representing Hungarian cinematography, such as this year's Oscar-winning film "Sing", (directed by Kristóf Deák), "Operation Stone", „Before Lunch", etc., which has been selected for special screenings in the frames of the Project and will support promotion of culture of Hungary through cinematography in Armenia. In addition, the Festival Director of the BUSHO Mr. Tamás Gábeli and Mr. Róbert Maly, a cinematographer of the film "Sing" will participate in the project activities in Yerevan and will present from the first-hand rich and diverse culture of Hungary to Armenian large audiences in specialised universities and  institutions.

After the opening ceremony, where  Mrs. Judit Hammerstein, Deputy Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and main patron of the event welcomed the creators and the audience and which was officially opened by Teréz Koncz director, last year’s jury member, the guests could witness how on the 2nd of September 2017 on a rainy Saturday evening the awards of Budapest Short Film Festival, the beautiful statuettes created by Solide Art and the Special Prizes of various Award grantors were presented to the winners. Of the total submissions (1,000) 75 short films were screened in the competition program in Puskin Cinema, where the audience could watch the works together with the international jury, and subsequently at the repeated screenings in Art+ Cinema and in Búgócsiga in Sopron.

Our updated pre-jury has finished their selection process – involving a brand new and an old/new member – as a result of which 75 shorts are in competition for the 3 main prizes and 8 category prizes due at the 13th BuSho Festival. The screening time is 15 hours alltogether - as usual, 17 animation, 9 experimental and 49 fiction films, however the number of Hungarian short films will be 17 this year (unlike earlier when there was 1 Hungarian short in each screening block). The Law of Large Numbers has once again proved itself to be true – the most contenders come from countries that have finished on top of the entry-statistics, bearing in mind that this may not mean anything if we consider that we’ve met so far an Irish artist with a Hungarian name, a Polish artist whose nationality was Swiss or  a Frenchman from Spain... There are exceptions that prove the rule – in case of countries submitting a small number of shorts: this gems come from Venezuela, Korea or Belarus. Let us know listen to what the members experienced – as always, ladies first...

After recounting all the entries we officially registered 957 shorts, which are listed here. They are in alphabetical order then in category breakdown. To do this breakdown we faced some confusion as we did not necessarily know what short, student and art exactly cover in this context. We received many entries for the non-existing sections such as documentary and music video so eventually we counted approximately 100 experimental, 150 animation and around 700 fictions. The national breakdown was much easier to make although we could not put “not defined” in any continent or region. On this list you can see some exotic nations as well as the most effective ones, like Hungary with 94, push Spain off the podium by 82 and France came second behind Germany by only one entry against the Germans 118. But it may well be that if we recount them again could be otherwise, so "all right, we call it a draw"

As we expressed it previously the hardest job in the whole year process is to watch all the received shorts to make a selection of the competition. Since there were ten times as many as the competition program can fit in, you can imagine this… Obviously there are always more quality films than we can squeeze into the program, making the panorama screening more and more competitive every year in which we show the shorts that were not selected. The pre-selection started on 15-March. Their line up has changed a bit, due to maternity leave, studying abroad and other unpostponable events. The only proof of permanency is László Rimóczi writer, who can always make a witty summarising...  

In accordance to previous years the registering timeline from 1-Dec to 15-April has come to its end on all platforms for 13th BuSho. The usual number of entries were received which again counts around one thousand. Half of the entries came through Filmfreeway, the rest were mainly devided on BuSho’s own portal and Reelport. You can take a closer look into these on our website while the detailed statistics will be announced once all got summarised. The most important deadlines are listed on our website! We’d like to ask all subscribers to regularly check their spam folder of mailing system and if you made your entry please remember the date 15th June. If you do not receive acknowledgement of your submission, please take a look on our website where all results will also be displayed. Now the main role is with the pre-jury and the filmmakers can cross fingers if they want to be part of the competition of the 13th BuSho Festival. Good luck!

Just before Easter, we have got the following mail from the European Festivals Association: "We are delighted to inform you that BUDAPEST SHORT FILM FESTIVAL has been selected to receive the EFFE Label 2017-2018. BUDAPEST SHORT FILM FESTIVAL is now part of the EFFE festival community, facilitated by the European Festivals Association, which consists of festivals that stand for artistic quality and have a significant impact on the local, national and international level. Your festival received the following feedback:

Great festival for short pieces, excellent concept,
 high quality alternative film festival.

The official announcement will take place during the EFFE MeetUp in Wiesbaden on 4 May where you as EFFE Label 2017-2018 are invited for an exchange and networking event. More tools on how to promote your festivals as EFFE Label Festival including press release will be provided after the official announcement.
Best regards, Darko Brlek, President EFA and Jonathan Mills, President EFFE International Jury 2017-2018."

Last year’s BuSho winner, The sound of concrete and it’s crew fulfilled their promise and as a delegate by BuSho they made it to the FEC Festival in Reus, Ankara as well as Akbank Sanat in Istambul. Director István Kovács told us: It was very exciting to show our movie in a completely different society. To see how easily the homeland point of view can meet this different aspect. They loved the movie and had plenty of questions in regards BuSho. They wanted to know what chances shortfilms get in Hungary to be seen by the public and how open spectators are for this genre of film. A big thanks for Cultural Institute, Áron and Gábor were friendly, helpful and interested in our work all the way, the whole event was well organized, so we are thankful for that. The preview of the Cifra3 Days of the Hungarian Film can be read here, while the upcoming German-Hungarian presentation in Stuttgart will be summarised in our next newsletter.

How far you have to go to get close to yourself? A unique insight into the pasts, hearts and minds of four everyday athletes embraced by the running director. Their dream and burden is to finish an extreme running race to test their limits, heal their souls and release their demons. ULTRA is a creative documentary about people who dedicate their lives to running, in order to compete in this radical journey. The movie follows them as they confront extreme hardship and surpass the limits of their strength, both in their body and their mind. Whether running to escape from their everyday life, to challenge ageing or to seek the supernatural, every runner gets a taste of immortality and experiences his own mortality… Balazs Simonyi is not just the director of the film, but one of these runners. He finished successfully many ultra races, especially Spartathlon 4 times in a row (2013-2016). Actually he never gave up any races. He introduces the audience to this unknown universe, and shares his naked feelings and thoughts on the road. A first hand experience. Balazs’s life was changed 10 years ago by running, it helped him to carry on. He ran more to get further and deeper. During this time he kept asking himself: Why do people run really long distances? What is this compulsion? Why do we challenge and torture ourselves? ULTRA will reveal the answers. Coming soon in 2017 Spring.

It was an eventful period in festival's world, since our once-jury member Ildikó Enyedi tamed the Golden Bear in Berlin as well as Kristóf Deák won the Academy award for his short, Mindenki (Everyone). Our deepest honour goes to both teams in the making, and special greetings to Róbert Maly cinematographer of the latter movie. In the near future in March the Géczy-Hörcher pair who succeed last year with a presentation in Akbank Sanat of Istanbul, the BuSho delegation takes part once again. This time it is István Kovács representing Betonzaj (The sound of concrete) and Milán Kopasz with the animation Beyond. The sound of concrete has also an invitation to FEC Festival in Reus, Catalunya as well as Áron Ferenczi's Mr. Miller! Last but not least the Cifra3 Hungarian Film Days in Moscow will also showcase Mr. Miller, Balázs Simonyi's Indian and Kata Oláh: En passant. Obviously we will give you a review of all these events in our next newsletter.

Hungarian film "Sing" ("Mindenki" in Hungarian) won the 2017 Academy Award for "Best Live Action Short Film". Set in the early ’90s in Budapest, the 25-minute-long movie – inspired by true events – follows an award-winning school choir, their charming teacher, and the new girl in class whose arrival starts a series of events that might expose the dark truth behind their fame. The movie by Hungarian filmmaker Kristóf Deák is the second Magyar-made film to earn an Oscar in the past two years, after last year’s triumph of "Son of Saul" as the Best Foreign Language Film. At the 89th Academy Awards 

ceremony honoring the best film productions of 2016, held on February 26th at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, presenters Salma Hayekand David Oyelowo announced that Sing was the Oscar winner and handed the coveted golden statuettes to London-based director Kristóf Deák and producer Anna Udvardy. Hungarian director Kristóf Deák’s first job in filmmaking was with the production of Stephen Spielberg’s 2005 historical drama, Munich – which was partially filmed in Budapest – and Deák also directed 12 episodes of a Hungarian action series, Hacktion; after this victory, we are quite certain that he will be making more internationally acclaimed films in the very near future. We congratulate the entire Sing crew and cast for this stunning achievement.

Those of us who went through this trial claim that one of the key points of festival organization is to be dealt with by the pre-jury – selection is a mind-boggling feat which requires unbelievable energy and concentration: selecting 15 hours of shorts to be screened for the other juries and the audience from 1000+ hours of shorts. It also means that the members of the jury change from time to time, the reasons may be baby-time or a study program abroad – lucky for us, there are always volunteers who would like to give a try for this challenge. Such as for example Zoltán Vozó Végh, who is in love with cinema – so he told us – and according to whom Ghostbusters is the best film ever. So far he has directed reality shows, soap operas and he is a keen BuSho fan. Bori Vajda has been with us for years now, she studies at ELTE University and takes part in the Film Theory and Film History programme, we hope she’ll get a good first-hand experience! Annaida Orosz, a long-time member of the jury is responsible for screening the animations...

The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards were announced in Los Angeles, revealing that the Hungarian film "Sing" directed by Kristóf Deák, received a nomination for "Best Live Action Short Film". Set in the early ’90s in Budapest, the 25-minute-long movie – that was inspired by true events – follows an award-winning school choir, their charming teacher, and the new girl in class whose arrival starts a series of events that might expose the dark truth behind their fame. The film already gained immense international success at prestigious film festivals in Toronto and Tokyo.

TRAILER!

Ennemis Intérieurs by Sélim Azzazi (France) TRAILER!

La Femme et le TGV by Timo von Gunten (Switzerland) TRAILER!

Silent Nights by Aske Bang (Denmark) TRAILER!

Timecode by Juanjo Giménez (Spain) TRAILER!

Following the successful past years we announce anew a Spot&Poster competition for which we await short films no longer than 30, respectively 60 seconds, featuring the provided topics, furthermore posters. We await the entries of everybody, regardless of age, gender and belief, this means that we are curious about your opinion from all corners of the Earth. The winners in each category are entitled to take part in the 11th GomBusSho all-arts workshop lasting one week and planned to be held between 1-8 July free and no strings attached. We will screen and exhibit each creation on the 13th BuSho Festival in September 2017.

DEADLINE FOR THE ENTRIES: 15 APRIL 2017.

In 2017 it’s time for the 13th BuSho to take place – overwhelmed with joy, our dear team member, Mr. Rimóczi László let his mind wander and gave us the following inspirational essay – hopefully one that inspires all of us! Lowe &  Behold! THE UNLUCKY 13^th

Euroshort goes to France with this beautiful design… During the 32° Marché du Film Court that will take place in Clermont-Ferrand (France) from 6 to 10 February 2017, the European short film festival network EuroShort will promote a selection of shorts by emerging European filmmakers, recommended by the festivals joining the network.  The compilation is available in a Vimeo album protected by password, that will be provided to the film industry professionals requiring it.

The album includes ten short films:

Landing by Filipe Martins (Portugal, 2016)
Betonzaj (The Sound of Concrete) by István Kovács (Hungary, 2015)
Café para llevar (Coffee To Go) by Patricia Font (Spain, 2014)
The Translator by Emre Kayiş (Turkey, 2014)
Isabella by Duncan Cowles, Ross Hogg (UK, 2015)
Love by Boya Harizanova (Bulgaria, 2015)
Per Anna (For Anna) by Andrea Zuliani (Italy, 2015)
Priče iz bijele sobe (White Room Stories) by Silva Ćapin (Croatia, 2016)
Nail by Philip Sotnychenko (Ukraine, 2016)
The Living Spirit by Emil Denev (Bulgaria, 2015), winner of the EuroShort Campus 2015/2016…

Further info: www.euroshort.com

After closing of last year’s archiving, registration opens for next year’s 13^th BuSho Festival. According to modern time challenges you can enter on our online submission platform which went again through some minor changes that can be red in our terms&conditions. Basically we expect shorts of fiction, animation and experimental that are made after 1-January-2016 and with length of maximum of 30 minutes. Beside the refreshed own platform we reduced alternatives of submissions, only reelport and filmfreeway will remain.

The most important deadlines are listed on our website as per below:

ONLINE SUBMISSION OPENS: 1^ST DECEMBER-2016
ENTRY DEADLINE: 15^TH APRIL-2017
PRE-JURY DEADLINE: 15^TH MAY-2017
ANNOUNCEMENT OF COMPETITION PROGRAMME: 15^TH JUNE-2017
RECEIPT OF SCREENING COPIES: 15^TH JULY-2017
GUEST ACCREDITATION DEADLINE: 1^ST AUGUST-2017
PRESS ACCREDITATION DEADLINE: 25^TH AUGUST-2017

We’d like to ask all subscribers to regularly check their spam folder of mailing system and if you made your entry please remember the date 15^th June. If you do not receive acknowledgement of your submission, please take a look on our website where all results will also be displayed.